Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 16: Punjab Engineering College (PEC) was formally granted the status of a deemed university today as the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD)issued a notification. The MHRD had cleared the proposal in principle about a month ago.

The status of Punjab Engineering College would be like the other deemed universities in the country and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). A copy of the notification has been received by the Chandigarh Administration. The notification came after a series of inspections by the University Grants Commission and the All India Council for Technical Education.

The Administration had taken several steps to make the college ready for the deemed university status, including the registration of the Punjab Engineering College Society.

With this, the college shall be able to confer degrees to its students and carry out the recruitment of faculty on its own under the over all guidance of the governing body and the Chandigarh Administration.